Texas border officials wants feds to spend billions on crossings

A coalition of Texas border officials released a report Thursday that claims security blunders and the lack of a cohesive strategy to combat smuggling has empowered Mexican drug cartels.

But despite the need for $6 billion to upgrade border crossings and hire 6,000 additional officers, Texas lawmakers say federal fiscal woes and a presidential election make it unlikely that funding will come this year.

The report by the Texas Border Coalition says that $90 billion has been spent by the United States over the past decade to secure the Southwest border.

Apprehensions are down in rural areas because of a buildup of Border Patrol and technology.

But the report cited a Justice Department drug threat assessment that 90 percent of drugs smuggled by the Mexican cartels are coming through the 52 border crossings in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

“But if there are additional resources to be allocated this year, they should go to the legal border crossings as a first priority,” Cortez said on a conference call with reporters.

Lawmakers are eyeing across-the-board budget cuts to help trim a growing federal deficit.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who is seeking more federal funds for border security measures, said the presidential election and budget pressures would make it difficult to obtain new funding this year.

Cuellar, in an earlier interview, said getting new Customs officers on the border will not be easy.

“The question is going to be: ‘Do we have the will or the money to put them down there?’ ” Cuellar said. “I think the budget is going to loom over what we do with border security.”

Companion bills were filed last year by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, to hire 5,000 new inspectors, 1,350 additional staff and authorize the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner to construct and upgrade needed facilities and border crossings.

Senate and House committees overseeing DHS have yet to act on the legislation.

Rep. Francisco Canseco, R-San Antonio, said properly staffed land ports in Texas were important to international trade on which the Texas and U.S. economies rely upon.

Reyes, a co-sponsor of the Reyes bill, said he expects something could be worked out on a bipartisan basis.
“I think that despite all the rhetoric going back and forth in Washington, this is something that affects us all and affects us on our border,” Canseco said.

Bill Brooks, a CBP spokesman in Texas, said that while he appreciates the concerns of the Texas Border Coalition, “we cannot agree with the assumption being made that CBP is without strategy on the border.”
“We at CBP have made significant contributions to increasing our effectiveness to discover, degrade and neutralize the efforts of the transnational criminal organizations,” Brooks said.

The Obama administration announced last month that it would draw down from 1,200 to 300 the number of National Guard deployed along the 2,000-mile Southwest border and use aircraft, drones and helicopters to provide heightened security.

The Defense Department will operate surveillance aircraft to support Border Patrol agents on the ground. The Pentagon and DHS said using aerial assets would reduce the $10 million a month price tag for Guardsmen on the border.

The report by the Texas Border Coalition cited as wasteful spending other projects, which occurred under the Bush administration, including the 670 miles of border fence that cost taxpayers $2.4 billion, and cancellation of the “virtual fence” in Arizona that cost $1 billion.